弁当

Japanese

A typical bento

A homemade bento

Kanji in this term
弁	当
べん Grade: 5 (ateji)	とう Grade: 2
goon

Alternative spelling
辨當 (kyūjitai)

Alternative forms

(honorific) お弁当(べんとう), 御弁当(おべんとう) (o-bentō)

Etymology

/bentau/ → /bentɔː/ → /bentoː/

Borrowed from Chinese 便當／便当 (biàndang, “convenient”).

The use of 弁 for ben is an example of phonetic ateji (当て字), due to 便 having another sense of "human excrement'.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) べんとー [bèńtóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [3])[1]
IPA^(key): [bẽ̞nto̞ː]

Noun

弁(べん)当(とう) • (bentō) ^{←べんたう (bentau)^?}

food brought on the go
bento (takeaway lunch served in a box)
This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
(law) Synonym of 執行猶予 (shikkō yūyo): a suspended sentence

Derived terms

弁当(べんとう)箱(ばこ) (bentō-bako)
駅弁(えきべん) (ekiben)
キャラ弁(べん) (kyaraben), キャラ弁当(べんとう) (kyara-bentō)

Idioms

弁当(べんとう)を使(つか)う (bentō o tsukau, “use a bento → eat a bento”)

Descendants

Chinese:
- Mandarin: 便當／便当 (biàndāng)
- Cantonese: 便當／便当 (bin6 dong3)
- Min Nan: 便當／便当 (piān-tong)
→ English: bento
→ Indonesian: bento

Noun

弁当(べんと) • (bento)

(dialectal, Kagoshima) bento (takeaway lunch served in a box)

References

Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

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